Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia

DryFlyRy

Hi I posted this oneHealth forums... the only response I had was that I have depression, however I'm finding it hard to believe as I dont feel depressed. I'l repost here. Please let me know what you guys think!

"Alright, so I've tried going through my health providers here locally to figure out what's going on with me to no avail, so I figured I would try the vast world of the internet as a final resort. Here's my issue(s):

First off I am a 27 Year old 203 lb Male and have been pretty healthy my whole life & am not taking any medications. This all started about 2 years ago (actually maybe up to about 6 years ago, but the symptoms were sporadic and few and far between, it became constant about 2 years ago). Now, I'm not sure if it has anything to do with it or not, but I want to mention everything, especially because I read anxiety may play a role in this, BUT my symptoms got bad and persistent right after a big break up with my (at the time) fiance. I suffered a tremendous amount of anxiety as a result and that was when these feelings really came on. However, like I said before, these feelings were there well before then too, when everything was all happy and care free in my life, just not as persistent as they are now (and now too, my life is back to normal and I'm completely happy and dont have much anxiety, but these symptoms still persist.)

OK so before I get ahead of myself let me explain these "symptoms": I am feeling, every waking moment, every day, completely out of it, spacey, foggy, dreamy, unreal, in a daze, kinda confused, hard to concentrate, sleepy, fatigued, without motivation or inspiration, I sleep alllll the time (on my breaks at work, in the shower, as soon as I get out of work) my memory is slipping, and just drained. After 2 years of this now I'm really getting frustrated and just want my life back. It is becoming unbearable.

What I have done so far: Been checked for lyme disease, thyroid is fine, nothing found in my blood tests. Then went to a psychiatrist and was put on anti-depression meds (zoloft for a period and something else, I forget). And while they seemed to help my mood, they weren't helping the underlying symptoms I previously described, so i was taken off them in order to take care of this initial problem first. Now, rewinding a bit, when I was seeing a shrink to help get through the break up I mentioned before, I explained to him these feelings and he thought that sleep apnea may be a road to explore because he's heard of people with sleep apnea having these same feelings and once treated they claim to wake up the next morning "a completely new person". SO after I had no luck with the psychiatrist I went back to my PCP and asked about the sleep apnea thing. He referred me to a pulmonologist who said it sounded like thats what I had. So I waited a month for a sleep study, then another to get the results. Well today I got the results and, wouldn't you know, I slept perfectly. No apnea at all. He said there were some leg movements, but didnt think they were enough to interrupt my sleep enough to cause the way I was feeling during the day, and I left the office without much advice.

So where do I go from here? Any thoughts? Back to the anxiety for a moment. Now I have had issues with anxiety in the past, and used to have this feeling accompany an attack immediately afterwords (this was in like 1999), but it would go away in a few minutes. But again, this is now 24/7 for 2 years. Would anxiety still be a cause even though its so persistent? Other times I can recall experiencing this feeling before it became so persistent is about 6 years ago I woke up one morning with this feeling, noticed it, was kinda scared, but it went away. other times it would usually only come on at night. But again NOT accompanied by any anxiety, just kinda out of nowhere.

2 More things I would like to mention (I know this is long but I just want to cover all my grounds so I can get the best answer):

1st, When I was in college, I smoked a lot of pot (college years were from 2001 - 2005). I'd say about once a day for the majority of that period. Is what I'm feeling being "burnt out"? Did i really do that much damage to myself? Why dont the other "pot heads" I know feel the same way if this may be the case?

2nd, When doing a search on these symptoms some websites about Candida Yeast issues came up. I took a quick test and came up with a score of 132 (it said if men score higher than 90 then systemic yeast is prob present, 140 or higher then its almost certainly present). Some of the questions I wasn't sure about, so my score may before off a few points here or there. Does anyone out there know much about this Candida thing? Could this be whats wrong with me?

Ok I think I've covered everything. Any information or advice would be greatly appreciated. Again, sorry about the lengthiness of this post but I just NEED to get this under control. "

Thanks in advance guys!
-Ry

caitlen03 · Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 12:57 pm Post subject:

hi ry,
its really hard to tell. Have you had all the lab tests for anemia, thyroid, adrenal glands?
One thing i thought seemed different than chronic fatigue is that you sleep alot. Most people with cfs have bad insomnia, but i guess thats not always the case.
Maybe you should try some more drugs like wellbutrin, its an anti deprrssant, but its give you more energy as well and maybe can help cognative function.

I have problems concentrating also.

Do you ever get light headed and feel like you might faint, when you stand up? called orthostatic hypotension
Thats a common problem with cfs and i think it goes along with the spaciness.

Its really hard to figure out if you have chronic fatigue syndrome, because there is not test that will say you have it. You have to be excluded from everything else before you can say you have it

kenvj · Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 3:33 pm Post subject:

It sounds like CFS to me. CFS often starts after a period of extreme stress like your bust up with your finance. The rest of your story sounds just like me - I had the same problem with wanting to sleep such a lot - it was like that for years before the bad physical fatigue really kicked in, and yes I was diagnosed with depression which I didn't have and I also went down the systemic Candida road. I treated myself for Candida, cost me a small fortune and didn't get me anywhere.
Have a look at my recent post about the Gupta Program, this is working really well for me.
Ken

Sand · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:20 am Post subject:

Most of the story you posted sounds exactly like me (same age, anxiety etc). I do not have any anxiety at this moment anymore. I used to be really sharp and fast. Then I used Propecia 5 1/2 years ago and got these symptoms for the first time. After 7 month they disappeared , but they retured with intervals. For the last 1 1/2 years I have terrible and constant brainfog and a disconnected feeling (like I am dreaming, feeling drunk). I am not tired (sleepy) however (physically or mentally).

Ladimir · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 5:40 am Post subject:

[quote="caitlen03"]One thing i thought seemed different than chronic fatigue is that you sleep alot. Most people with cfs have bad insomnia, but i guess thats not always the case.[/quote]
Wrong. I have chronic fatigue from a post viral infection and all i do is sleep.

Most likely you have chronic fatigue syndrome. You match a whole lot of the symptoms. Although you have been diagnosed with depression numerous times that does not instantly mean that you have to feel depressed.

I have had depression numerous times throughout my suffering of CFS and remember some of the symptoms of depression are
[b]Anxiety
lack of motivation or inspiration
[/b]
[/i]

mike4u · Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 2:38 pm Post subject:

i definately dont have a problem sleeping too much, insomnia is one of my huge problems. I really doesnt help with the fatigue when you only sleep a few hours per night.

Ive been taking melatonin and that does really help. Also valerian is good, and sometimes ambien.
But there are still some nights when none of these do the trick

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia

Is this chronic fatigue syndrome? What can I do?